Women face very different financial realities than men, especially female athletes who are often left alone to plan out their financial futures. MassMutual is committed to uplifting women in sports through real investment and action.

Jennifer Halloran, CMO and head of marketing and brand at MassMutual, sat down with Laura Correnti, founder and CEO of Deep Blue Sports + Entertainment, to discuss how women can take control of their finances and how female athletes can help champion women's financial empowerment.

1. First things first: When we started Deep Blue, you were all in because you saw the inequities that existed, not just for female athletes, but women at large. How can we better arm female athletes with the tools and resources they need to be informed about the wealth they're building, and more importantly, what they're going to do with it?

Halloran: Something that we've been passionate about for a long time, and even before I got to MassMutual during all my years working in financial services, is that women in finances are a really different and underserved audience.

Women invest very differently than men. We have very different career paths. We tend not to make as much money from an income perspective. We tend to drop out of our careers to build families or take care of loved ones.

There are just a lot of patterns and we, statistically, are underinsured.

• Financial advisors tend to underinsure women but overinsure their husbands.

And yet, women tend to outlive their spouses. So then we're at a disadvantage.

The idea: At MassMutual, we understand the parallels between the unique financial challenges faced by women. Women make less, live longer, need more for retirement, are less likely to be insured, and more likely to take breaks from their careers to have children/care for their families. Women need to manage their finances differently and make their money work harder.

Female athletes have a very similar story and path. They start to get into these careers early and do really well, but nobody is giving them a plan or helping them figure out what's going to come next. And it's not necessarily at 60 or 70, it could be at 20, 30 or 40.

• Maybe if they wanted children they had to step out in the off-season and then try to get back in.
• Female athletes embody the overall financial inequities faced by all women.

That's a great opportunity for us to align with these female athletes to not only help them build a plan but also use their stories to really elevate this need that we're talking about.

We can help these women, who are idolized by many women and young girls across the country, raise their voices and give them a platform so they can then help other women and girls understand that they need to build a plan as well. I think that's really important.

2. How it's done: We're starting to see a shift in influence with women athletes, yet many of them have never had a financial manager. How do you arm a financial planning army of 8,000 advisors to work with these athletes — those past, present and future — from a professional capacity to secure their future?

Halloran: It's about trusted advisors. Most of us have a network of close people that we really trust. And I think you have to surround yourself with people who are experts and you feel comfortable with.

For women, and we see this a lot in investing and in a lot of the research that we do, they want to work with people they know and who know them.

One of the biggest things we've been working on at MassMutual is not only building a more diverse group of financial advisors to reach a more diverse audience but also bringing a bigger base of female financial advisors.

• We need to build a bigger network of female financial advisors so that we can then ultimately connect with these female athletes, or just more women in general, to build that base.
• That's a commitment that we have, and it works really well for us as a business objective and an opportunity here to work with these athletes and give them exposure.

Okay, but: It's important we don't step on anybody's toes. A lot of these athletes have their trusted group, between agents and partners and such. But I think everybody has a unique role.

• Even in the world of finance and planning, there's a reason why an advisor might be good at one thing but you have an accountant that handles another.

Female athletes can benefit from building that network, including a financial advisor who is just focused on that. Especially a female financial advisor who truly understands where you're coming from and what some of the challenges women have.

Whether it's divorce, dropping out of the workplace or taking care of the elderly, multigenerational parents while taking care of children, etc., there are special and unique needs that women know. That's what we're trying to build out.

3. The story: From a storytelling capacity, what are the stories you're hoping to put out for MassMutual?

Halloran: I would love to really tell the story of MassMutual's commitment to being the champion for female financial planning.

I also want to use the voice of these female athletes as an opportunity, because I think there's a lot of power in their stories and they're a great example of the same kind of financial planning people need.

The goal: We would like people to recognize us in the stories we tell and the opportunities we move into this year, as really the champion for female financial planning and making women better, stronger investors and better off in general with their finances.

Looking ahead: What's one thing that you're most looking forward to for the future of women's sports?

Halloran: I'm just really looking forward to the day when people stop saying "Can you believe the numbers and the stats?"

I am looking forward to the day when people are not surprised about how many people are watching women's sports.

It's like "Did you catch the game last night?" and everyone says yes and nobody has to say which game, we just all know what everybody is talking about.

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